Following the announcement that Doctor Who was being added to HBO Max, a streaming service in the US, two Doctors guest starred on James Corden’s The Late, Late Show. David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker spoke to Corden about their respective eras of Doctor Who.
Whittaker commented that, when viewing Doctor Who on HBO Max, you’ll be able to watch Series 1 to 11, but she’d start with Series 11, before Tennant jokingly told her that the show really came alive with Series 2.
Their friendly bickering continued with Whittaker telling Tennant that she’d been given top-billing by Corden and Tennant quip back that sometimes its sometimes the ‘and’ before an actor’s name that means they’re better.
Corden then told us that what we’re seeing is two actors, so bored by lockdown and starved of attention and this is what the promise of billing and status does.
Obviously, this was all in jest. Whittaker even tells us how Chibnall gave Tennant her number so that he would know who the Thirteenth Doctor was going to be before anyone else.
Following this brief interview, Corden revealed a cosplay contest, following a tweet put out only 24 hours beforehand. The successful applicants then had to put together a costume of any Doctor Who monster using only household objects. The results were a Cyberman, rather amusingly made out of tin-foil, the top of a fan, and a pair of large headphones; an Odd, with a load of spaghetti in his mouth; and a Cloister Wraith imaginatively using a rug, cardboard, and an iPad to get the face right.
Other not so successful cosplays include the Face of Boe, a Dalek, and a Kasaavin, from the recent story, Spyfall. Even more of a treat was seeing Tennant and Whittaker judging the contest in their own costumes. Following the programme, Tennant’s wife Georgia Moffett posted a picture on Instagram of him in his iconic costume.
Corden and Tennant both seemed quite surprised to note that the costume still fit, given as the last time Tennant wore it was in 2013’s The Day of the Doctor. Whittaker has recently got back into her costume for a Lockdown treat, which saw her hiding from a group of Sontarans telling us that this virus won’t be around forever and not to lose heart. It’s a touching little scene.
It was particularly great seeing the contestants’ faces as the two Doctors appeared on screen. Likewise, Jodie and David seemed to be delighted to see them.
Rightly so, Katherine, the lady who had created a Cloister Wraith won the contest, though I also think that the Cyberman and Ood cosplays were strong contenders. This sort of little interaction once again proves how brilliant the Doctor Who community is and now with the Autumn filming in doubt due to the current pandemic, it’s little treats like these that’ll keep us going!
